The Pedagogical Meeting of the Teachers of English on the Buzău Valley 27/11/2024

On 27 November 2024, the teachers of English on the Buzău Valley participated in the webinar entitled “Digital Assessment Tools for Innovative Teachers of English”, whose main focus was on showcasing some resources and tools which can be used to improve the results of the Romanian students by making the teaching-learning-assessment cycle a more enjoyable and positive experience for everyone involved.

Formal evaluations, especially the traditional pen-and-paper methods, are supposed not only to measure the students’ understanding, skills and progress toward learning objectives or hold students, teachers and schools accountable for meeting educational standards. Their purposes are also to provide constructive feedback to the learners about their performance and help both the teacher and the students to identify strengths and weaknesses, more exactly to detect areas for improvement, the so-called ”learning difficulties”, in order to address them and make plans for remodelling instruction and remediation.

Some disadvantages of traditional assessment methods include excessive stress and anxiety which may negatively impact the students’ performance and well-being, a focus on rote memorization and surface learning (also known as short-term recall over deep understanding), all these to the detriment of higher-order thinking skills, creativity or real-world problem-solving abilities. Traditional assessment hardly finds any room for personalized learning which is considered one of the best conditions for success.

As teachers, when we think about our limited material resources such as paper and printer ink, and an even more limited non-material resource which is our own time, our 21st century assessment methods really need to become friendlier, more adaptable and flexible, incorporating more sustainable, accesible and efficient technology-supported alternatives.

How can digital resources improve the situation? To begin with, they do offer ehanced engagement – as all these apps, quizzes, games, animations, simulations are more attractive and interactive, they increase curiosity, create interest, boost motivation and encourage the students’ creative and critical thinking and their problem-solving skills. Secondly, digital evaluation resources reduce stress as they are first and foremost self-assessment tools, they almost always involve a form of positive feedback for finishing task or making progress (such as praise, badges, points etc.), they allow for repetition/multiple opportunities to perform a task or answer a question and may as well incorporate the learners’ previous knowledge and experience as well as some of their preferences if they are created by their teacher. Moreover, open educational resources can be easily adapted to meet the individual learner’s needs offering differenciated assessments for different levels of proficiency, learning speed and style. Nevertheless, these resources shouldn’t ignore or neglect the National Curriculum requirements or the general and specific competences promoted in it.

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGXsaj5nPA/soM4oRkGLI9LlZKpTxanZg/edit?utm_content=DAGXsaj5nPA&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

During the webinar, some  of the most recent results of the international projects implemented by Liceul Teoretic "Radu Vlădescu" were disseminated for the benefit of the teachers of English on the Buzău Valley and their school communities:

the eTwinning projects "Digital Explorers and Promoters of Cultural Heritage" and "Bookfest 2025" and the Erasmus project 2024-1-RO01-KA121-SCH-000206543.

PARTICIPANT LIST

Event: The Pegagogical Meeting of the Teachers of English on the Buzău Valley

Date: 27/11/2024

Venue/Organiser: online/Liceul Teoretic “Radu Vlădescu” Pătârlagele 

No.	Participant’s Name	School
	Bucur Orania	Școala Gimnazială Comuna Cislău
	Buriu Roxana	Școala Gimnazială "Vasile Voiculescu" Comuna Pârscov
	Cernat Daniela Elena	Școala Gimnazială "Pamfil Georgian" Gura Teghii, Școala Gimnazială Comuna Pănătău, Liceul Teoretic "Nicolae Iorga" Nehoiu
	Chirilus Elena Gabriela	Liceul Tehnologic Sfântul Mucenic Sava, Berca
	Costache Mădălina	Școala Gimnazială „Vasile Voiculescu” Pârscov, Școala Gimnazială "Ing. Oprișan Iarca" Unguriu
	Neacșu Mihaela	Liceul Teoretic “Radu Vlădescu” Pătârlagele
	Neculai Florian	Școala Gimnazială Sat Cândești
	Pană Maria	Liceul Teoretic "Nicolae Iorga" Nehoiu
	Pelmuș Florina Gabriela	Școala Gimnazială Lunca Priporului
	Rusti Elena Cristina	Școala Gimnazială Viperești
	Tănăsescu Cristina Florentina	Liceul Teoretic "Nicolae Iorga" Nehoiu
	Tătulescu Daniela	Școala Gimnazială Sat Cândesti Liceul Tehnologic Sfântul Mucenic Sava, Berca
	Teeru Elena Loredana	Școala Gimnazială Bâscenii de Sus, com. Calvini Școala Gimnazială Nr.1 Cătina
	Teodorescu Violeta	Liceul Teoretic „Radu Vlădescu” Pătârlagele
	Vasile Elena-Luminița	Școala Gimnazială Comuna Pănătău
	Vioiu-Giubegan Maria	Școala Gimnazială Cozieni